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“100% Security”: Obama’s Cradle-to-Grave Surveillance

At a congressional hearing in March, Senator Ron Wyden asked the question that a leaked FISC order answered weeks ago. “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”

“No sir,” replied James Clapper, the NSA’s Director of National Intelligence. “Not wittingly.”

For the past few weeks, our public servants have tried to assure us that all is well. It would be comforting to believe these reassurances; nobody wants to think that our government has become intrinsically malevolent. The NSA’s deception, however, leaves us with little reason to trust them. It seems probable that Edward Snowden’s revelation is only the tip of the iceberg.

Even from the programs we know about, it’s apparent that the Obama Administration is ushering in an era of cradle-to-grave surveillance. Absent a severe course-correction, a child born today will be tracked for his entire life in a litany of ways.

The Common Core initiative, for instance, will mine data from public schools, indexing students' income, religious affiliation, and blood type. The Orwellian program will track students’ homework completion, “appreciation for diversity” and “cultural awareness and competence.”

Moreover - thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling - police may take DNA samples from people who they arrest for any reason. Americans who have never even received a speeding ticket may now have their genetic material permanently stored in a state database.

Perhaps the most ominous of these new programs is the Obama Administration’s Federal Data Services Hub. In the near future, this database will collect reports about Americans from government-approved health insurance providers. The IRS will monitor these reports and cross-check them against tax returns. Given recent events, I can hardly be blamed for speculating that the IRS might use this new power to persecute its political enemies.

President Obama says (correctly) that “you can't have 100% security and also then have 100% privacy” – and its clear which option he’s chosen for us. His policies are propelling us towards a dystopian future in which government intrusion has left the reasoned constraints of a republic far behind.

Thank you for writing this; I'll be sharing it... To know that so many others truly see what's going on, and can recognize their values and principles slipping away, gives me the hope that our Country will survive after all. The Americans are still here.

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During the first round of the 2016 GOP presidential debates, Jeb Bush was pressured by the moderators to explain his history of pushing for Common Core implementation across the country. In his statement, Bush said:

A recent study shows a huge push in the number of homeschooled children in the state of Florida, showing a record high number of 7,000 plus homeschoolers added in the past ten years. This hefty increase was due in part to the rising number of online learning resources that allow students at home more opportunities and ease thanks simply to access to the internet at home. Home Education Resources and Information Chairperson Karen Harmon stated recently she believes the change has occurred due to several factors:

From coast to coast, states throughout the country are trying to find any way possible to escape the widespread mess of Common Core. Recently, a large number of Long Island schools were at the center of attention when they reported having the highest number of Common Core opt-outs in the nation. Due to the immense number of students who refused to take place in the intrusive and cumbersome standardized tests, two schools in Long Island risk losing their prized national "Blue Ribbon" award for academic excellence nominations.

On July 8th the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “Going Dark: Encryption, Technology, and the Balance Between Public Safety and Privacy.” In his opening statement, Senator Chuck Grassley explained that “[c]ompanies are increasingly choosing to encrypt these devices in such a way that the company itself is unable to unlock them, even when presented with a lawful search warrant.”

Accountability is one of those words that seems to crop up again and again in education policy. Everybody seems to agree that more accountability is a good thing, but as usual, it’s easy for people with different interpretations of the same word to talk past each other.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the EPA was unreasonable when it did not consider costs when it decided to regulate mercury emissions from power plants. The Court, in an opinion by Justice Scalia, held that the EPA must consider costs, including compliance costs, when deciding whether a regulation is appropriate and necessary.

Last week, Delaware became the latest in growing number of states to push for the ability of parents to opt their children out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment tests. These tests were implemented as part of the increasingly unpopular Common Core education standards, but parents and teachers alike have been dissatisfied with the amount of time and focus going into test preparation as opposed to more traditional teaching, involving individualized interaction between teachers and students.

The newly handed-down Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act has garnered a great deal of debate. The 6-3 vote in favor of the administration does nothing to fix the unworkable flaws that remain and continue to largely define Obamacare. No matter the lens used to view the ACA, the prognosis is bad.

Governor Kate Brown of Oregon has just signed a bill (HB 2655) that would allow parents to opt their children out of the standardized tests that have come as part of the Common Core education standards in the state. Parents can cite any reason they choose for their opt-out decision, and the state is required to inform them ahead of time of their options.

Ten years ago today, the United States Supreme Court fundamentally changed the meaning and purpose of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, which allows for the use of eminent domain for “public use,” such as a road. But in a 5 to 4 decision, the Court ruled that eminent domain could be used to take property from a private citizen for purposes other than a public use.